The pleasures of coasting

REVIEWS BY SYBIL PRATT

When we say "coasting," we don't mean a foot-off-the-gas-pedal glide (though with these prices it's not a bad idea), but rather, red sails in the sunset, sand dunes and crashing waves. John Shields, restaurateur, chef, food journalist and TV host, grew up on the Chesapeake Bay and early on fell in love with the bounty that coastal waters yield. Coastal Cooking with John Shields, the companion volume to his TV cooking series airing this September, took Shields on a coastal culinary whirlwind; he cooked his way through the Carolinas, Key West and the Gulf states, up the West Coast from San Diego to Seattle, then down the East Coast from Maine to Baltimore, his home base. He met fishermen, farmers, prominent chefs and local home cooks who shared their recipes and their love of their own coastal regions. The 125 recipes here are seasoned with full-color photos and travelogue vignettes that take you from Latin Miami to Tangier Island, Virginia, and from Provincetown, Massachusetts, to Willamette Valley, Oregon. You'll find old-time favorites such as Savannah She-Crab Soup (if you're not in she-crab country, just use lump crabmeat), classic New England Boiled Dinner, Boston Baked Beans and Bourbon Street Beignets (it's not all from the briny deep). You'll also find champagne-based Cantaloupe Soup, Mussels with Smoked Salmon Cream and Saffron-Braised Leeks—new ideas to spice up your late summer menus.


Berry good

Berry picking can be one of summer's true pleasures: small wild strawberries in June, then blueberries and raspberries as July melts into August—the sweet, sun-warmed fruit better than any kind of candy. But in today's time-challenged world, most of us forage in supermarkets or, more happily, in green markets when the season permits. No matter where you pick or pick up your berries, knowing what to look for, how best to store them, how to cook with fresh berries or the versatile frozen alternative, will add to your enjoyment. Janie Hibler, an authority—and a berry thorough one at that—quotes chapter and verse on all the essentials and provides 175 terrific recipes and an illustrated A-to-Z berry encyclopedia in The Berry Bible. This is a wonderful time of year to use fresh berries in creative ways: try Janie's Fresh Beet and Raspberry Salad, serve Curried Halibut with a Strawberry-Papaya Relish or Sautéed Chicken with Blueberries and Blueberry Port, fill sponge cake layers with boysenberries and boysenberry curd. Then freeze ripe berries (instructions included) for winter consumption and stock your pantry shelves with homemade Raspberry-Red Currant Jam and Blackberry-Chile-Mint Preserves. All berry doable and berry good!


Chilling out

Some like it hot, but during the dog days of August, most of us like it cold. At this time of year, the icy cold of ice cream, America's year-round favorite, is more welcome than ever. Just in the nick of time, two new cookbooks have arrived to widen our ice cream horizons. The Ice Cream & Frozen Yogurt Cookbook by Mable and Gar Hoffman has more than 220 recipes for making all manner of frozen desserts from scratch, from classic extra-rich, dark Fudge Ice Cream to an unusual Pear-and-Port Frozen Yogurt. You'll find sherbets, sorbets, granitas and gelati as well, all with easy-to-follow instructions and serving and storage tips.

Charity Ferriera's Ice Cream Treats, with fabulous full-color photos, offers the scoop on transforming store-bought ice cream into cakes, pies, sandwiches, shakes, sundaes and pleasing parfaits, along with recipes for sauces and toppings. The Tiramisu Ice Cream Cake, impressive as it is easy, is a dandy dinner party finale, and I had great success with the nearly fat-free Raspberry Sorbet Sandwiches, made with meringues and drizzled with chocolate syrup. I'd advise getting both books—this double dip is quite affordable.


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